Method of treating fuel for briquetting purposes



G. (OMAREK- METHOD OF TREATING Fi L FOR BRIOUETTING PURPOSES.APPLICATION mso nmm, 1920.

1,430,386. PatentedSept. 26, 1922.

2 SHEETS-SHEET I.

. Mia Mylar/f- ,au v 59% G. KOMAREK. METHOD OF TREATING FUEL FORBRIQUETTING PURPOSES. APPLICATLON FILED DEC-31, 1920.

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GUSTAV KOMAREK, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR, BY TEESNE ASSIGNMENTS,TO MALCOLIVISON ENGINEERING AND MACHINE CORPORATION, OFSI'.LOUIS,,IVIIS-,

SOURI, A CORPORATION OF MISSOURI.

METHOD OF TREATING FUEL FOR BRIQUETTING FURPOSES.

Application filed December 31, 1920. Serial No. 434,342.

T 0 all whom it may concern Be it known that I, GUSTAV KOMAREK, acitizen of the United States, residin at city of Chicago, county ofCook, and gtate of Illinois, have invented a certain new and usefulImprovement in Methods of Treating Fuel for Briquetting Purposes, ofwhich the following is a full, clear, and exact description, such'aswill enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make anduse the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, formingpart of this specification, in which Figure 1 is a side elevational viewof the apparatus employed in my improved method of treating fuel forbriquetting purposes.

Figure 2 is an enlarged view of the fluXer forming a part oftheapparatus.

This invention relates to a new and useful method of treating fuel forbriquetting purposes, the object being to handle and treat the coal dust(either anthracite or bituminous) with its binder (coal tar, asphaltumtar or other binder) with heat, and under pressure preferably applied insuch a manner that the mass will be gradually heated up to the desiredtemperature inreadiness to be fed to the briquet forming machine whichcompresses the material into the form of briquets. These briquets aretaken from the machine and permitted to cool and to become partially drybefore being piled in bins, containers, etc,

The apparatus for carrying out my improved method is preferably soarranged that the operation of making briquets from practically dry coaldust is substantially continuous. In speaking of coal dust, I refer tocoal of small sizes, either from culm banks or screenings, which isreduced by a crushing or pulverizing machine so that the largestparticles in the raw mass to be treated are no larger than willpassthrough a screen of, say, twenty-five or fifty mesh. 0f course,there are numerous smaller par ticles, and, indeed, some coal dust asfine as would pass through a one-hundred mesh screen. As shown in Figure1-, the coal or dust is delivered into a bin or hopper 6. This bin orhopper has a contracted discharge opening at its bottom controlled by ahorizontally sliding gate valve 7 8 is a conveyor of suitable form forconveying the coal from bin 6 to a crushingma, chine 9, if it is desiredto use a crushing-.-

machine at this point. It is obvious, however, that the coal may becrushed before it is placed in the bin 6; In any a vertical bucket, orother elevator 11, and delivered through a spout 12 to a hori zontallydisposed paddle conveyor 13 to, spout 14:. This feed spout is in theform-oftv tapered column, the bottom portion of:

which is larger than the top portion. The

coal dust and its binder in the final treat-,-

ment of the mass before it is permitted to escape through a dischargeopening 17 onto. a paddle conveyor 18 by which it is carried to a feedbox 19. The feed box 19 is provided with oppositely revolving agitatin ablades in its lower end and the materifi passing between these agitatorsis delivered between the compressing rolls of the briquet machine 20,this type. of feeding mechanism and briquet machine being preferablythat shown in an application filed by me on August 21, 1920, Serial No.404,97 9. The formed briquets are delivered onto a belt 21 which carriesthem to suitable bins or other receptacles and in this travel, the newlyformed briquets are allowed to cool and dry.

14 is a vertical steam pipe located in the central portion of the column1 1- for spraying steam at about one-hundred-twenty 120) pounds pressureinto the mass of coal dust and binder near the bottom of the column andpreferably at a point just above the agitating blades in the fluxingmachine 16.

22 is a binder feeding belt for supplying the'binder in the form ofsmall particles of .asphaltum tar into the conveyor 8 whereby it can becarried with the coal dust into the crushing machine 9; or,vif thebinder is in liquid form, such as sulphite, it can be in:

event,- the, crushed coal is lifted through chute 10 by;

troduced at some other point in the system,

from a barrel or tank 23, before it reaches the top of the column of themass in the tapered cylinder 1a, or this binder may be introduced intothe mass at the upper end of column 14. I prefer, however, to introducethe binder which forms about five per cent of the mass of coal dustbeing treated into the system at some point where it will be thoroughlymixed with the c all dust be fore the mass is cooked in column 14, theobject being to coat each particle of coal with a film of binder. This,of course, is mechanically impossible, but by agitation and movement ofthe particles is fairly well accomplished, or at least is carried on tosuch an extent as to answer practical requirements.

l l hen the coal dust and binder is introduced into the top of column14;, itself form-- ing a column of material having a vertical height ofabout ten or twelve feet, the tapered cylinder 14: having a diameter ofabout five feet at its base, it will be apparent that the weight of thismass is considerable, so much so that as the material gradually descendsin the column, the superposed weight increases and tends to compress thematerial, causing the. particles to adjust themselves in closer contact.At the time that the material enters the top of the column, it is in theform of a dry, granular mass, the admixture of the binder making itslightly cohesive. The introduction of steam at the bottom of the columnthrough the pipe 14, said steam pipe being? about one-hundred-twenty(120) pounds pressure, will heat the mass of material in the column tosuch a degree that the binder becomes more fluid and will consequentlyspread over a greater surface area of the parti else. The lower end ofthe steam pipe 145 is perforated along each side, as at ll so as to dii;ct the steam laterally. This steam when it first enters the column isextremely hot and dry, but as it ascends the column, it becomes coolerand is finally condensed, at least in part, the water of condensationbeing taken up by the particles of coal which. may be exposed thereto.Uf course, if the particles of coal are entirely coated with the binder,they will not readily absorb the moisture, but as stated before it ispractically impossible to completely coat each particle of coal and,notwithstanding the previous agitating and mixing steps which may havebeen employed to coat the particles of coal with the binder, there maybe some lumps composed of dry coal dust in which there is little or nobinder. Then these lumps are fractured, and the dry particles exposed tomoisture, they will take up this moisture or water of condensation andin doing so create a partial vacuum at or near the upper end of thecolumn which tends to draw the steam. upwardly through the column. Forthis reason, a vent 15 is provided at the top of the column and inpractice, in order to get the best results in this cooking of the massfor the desired length of time so that it will be thoroughly andproperly heat treated in the presence ofthc moisture, I admit steam atthe bottom of the column in such quantities that it is distributedthroughout the entire column, the slight excess escaping through thevent. This vent then serves as an indicator in determining the quantityof steam to be introduced in a given length of time according to thespeed of travel or descent of the particles in the column which islargely controlled by the height and diameter of the column and thequantity discharged through the discharge opening at the bottom of theflux' chamber. The supply of coal dust and binder at the top of thecolumn should be so proportioned as to keep the column full and tocompensate for the amount taken from the bottom of the column, in orderto get the best results. As the particles of coal dust and binderdescend in the tapered cylindrical tank or housing 14., they arepermitted to spread laterally and will continue to spread as thediameter of the nopper or cylinder increases toward its bottom. This isdesirable because in addition to the vertical descending movement, someof the particles are subjected lateral movement relative to each otherwhich occurs throughout the column and is particularly desirable in thehottest zone of the column which naturally would be at a pointimmediately above and in proximity to the steam pipe. l hen the columnof coal dust and its binder have been heat treated in the column 14: andwhen the mass is hottest, at the bottom of the column, it is agitated byoppositely revolvii'ig blades to more effectively coat the particles oicoal and the binder so that when the mass is delivered to the briquetforming rolls, it is not only hot but in a semiplastic condition so thatit can be easily and readily shaped. These pressing rolls rotating inopposite directions tend to compress the coal dust and its now fluidbinder into a compact briquet which is dropped onto the cooling belt 21to be cooled. The resultant cold briquet is a compact mass giving aclean, smooth, dustless break, slightly vitreous in character and nearlyhomogeneous.

The apparatus is preferably installed in a buildingand forms a part ofthe briquet making equipment. The kind of binder used largely governsthe equipment for handling the coal and binder. For instance, if pitchis used in solid form then the pitch is usually fed with the coal andboth may be dumped into the crusher and crushed together before beingfed into the fluxing apparatus. If, on the other hand, liquid pitch orasphaltum oil or any other liquid binder is used then the binder is fedinto the coal (which has previously been crushed) in a paddle or screwconveyor where it receives preliminary mixing before it enters into thehopper of the fluxing apparatus.

The hopper or cylinder of the fluxing apparatus is preferably madetapered with the arge end at the bottom so as to allow the mixture tofeed downward with diminishing friction resistance from the sides orWalls of the hopper or cylinder. When in operation the hopper orcylinder is practically full of mixture and a vertical steam pipe passesdownward into the mixture substantially in the center of the mixturecolumn. This pipe has holes distributed at its bottom end. The steam isadmitted through these holes directly into the mixture column andsoftens and heats the mixture column.

The upper portion of this mixture column is not subjected to anymechanical action while under heat treatment but is gradually feddownward. This action is continuous and while the mixture column feedsdownward new coal is being continuously fed on top of the mixturecolumn. Nhen the mixture column has reached a certain point in itsdownward course it is engaged by shaped mixing arms 25 and is subjectedto an intense mechanical working or kneading action. This kneadingaction becomes at once very effective as the'mixture has pre viouslybeen heated and softened, and it is given additional effect through theweight of the material column which bears down on that part of themixture which is under the mechanical working action and the greaterthis weight the more effective will be the work of the mechanical mixingarms against the material.

The particular type of fluxer illustrated in Figure 2 of the drawings ispeculiarly adapted to effectively knead the cooked and semiplastic coal.The arcs of movement of the ii-shaped arms intersecting each otherimmediately below the steam pipe will prevent the material fromrevolving with the shaft and arms.

While I have described the introduction of steam through a vertical pipeinto the chamber near its lower end as the medium for cooking thecontents of the chamber,

and which vertical arrangement of the pipe will avoid obstructing thedescent of the mass in the tapered cylinder, it is obvious that a crosspipe could be used, or a ring, or exteriorly arranged heat generatingmediums, such as gas or oil burners or grate bars upon which fuel couldbe burned, can be employed; and also that the contents of the bindertank could be heated to render it fluid, although the heat necessary torender the contents of the binder tank fluid is low compared with thatwhich should be employed to secure the best results in cooking the massin the tapered cylinder 14.

Where the binder is sulphite it is not nec essary that it be heated, butwhere coal tar is used, particularly in cold Weather, it may bedesirable to heat the coal tar so as to make it fluid.

What I claim is:

1. A method of treating fuel for briquetting purposes which includescombining coal dust and its binder and feeding the same into the top ofa vented chamber, introducing steam into the bottom of said chamber, andagitating the heat treated fuel in the lower part; only of said chamber.

2. A method of treating fuel for briquetting purposes which consists incombining coal dust and its binder and delivering the same to the top ofa vertically elongated chamber through which said material gradu-' allydescends as it is taken from the bottom of the chamber, heat treatingthe material in the chamber and subjecting it to an intense mechanicalWorking or kneading action at the bottom only of the chamber, andfinally forming the material into briquets after the material leavessaid chamber.

3. The method of treating fuel for briquetting purposes which includescombining coal dust with a binder, forming a vertical column of themass, applying heat to the column, and kneading the mass in the lowerportion only of the column.

In testimony whereof I hereunto aflix my signature this 22nd day ofDecember, 1920.

GUSTAV KOMAREK.

